Sunday, December 09, 2007 Otop gaining grounds in RP
ABOUT a thousand small-to-medium-entrepreneurs (SMEs) and local government unit (LGU) representatives attended the 1st national One-Town-One-Product (Otop) summit at the Philippine Trade and Training Center in Manila recently.
Former Governor Morihiko Hiramatsu of Oita Prefecture, Japan, who is also known as the father of Otop, spoke on how they revitalized their ‘Isson-Ippin-Undo’ or the One Village-One Product Movement and how they gained high praises both in Japan and overseas for their unique trade activities.
A 1995 recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service, Hiramatsu surprised the summit participants when he illustrated how a simple product such as Shitake mushroom can become more profitable than manufacturing a motor car, mentioning the top car maker in Japan as his basis.
Hiramatsu also presented key factors to a successful entrepreneurship, which include abundance of raw materials and labor force.
Governors Maximo Dalog of Mountain Province, Nestor Fongwan of Benguet and Flordella Diasen of Kalinga, along with top officials and entrepreneurs of the Cordillera and other regions, heard the firsthand information from the Otop originator himself.
DTI Undersecretary Carissa Cruz-Evangelista of the Regional Operations Group, which coordinated the summit, has been optimistic and confident that the Otop program would deliver its expected part to alleviate poverty. Evangelista underscored the intensified consciousness of all stakeholders in harmonizing plans and programs that would forge more linkages that would "mainstream into the realization of the program's goals".
Evangelista said DTI created, reinforced, and sustained the vital links needed to run the program. She said of the 16 regional model Otops in 2004, the program now has 1,145 municipalities and cities with 70 percent LGU participation. Evangelista added DTI would intensify the advocacy efforts as the lead implementor of the program.
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